


Broken

by J02



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 09:30:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11159091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J02/pseuds/J02
Summary: What happens after Lian Yu explodes.





	1. Chapter 1

Oliver Queen had seen his world destroyed in the blink of an eye before but as he watches explosions decimate the island that held almost everyone he'd ever loved, he realizes Adrian Chase had been right. This would be what broke him and when he broke, he could easily become more dangerous than anyone he'd ever faced.

He presses the button on his chest in desperation, "Felicity! Thea! John! Curtis...someone, please answer me!" Silence answers him. Well, silence and somehow more explosions.

He glances over as A.R.G.U.S. seaplane lands nearby. His eyes meet the pilot's and whatever she see in his causes her face to crumble in pain. The door opens, "Oliver?"

"I'm sorry, Lyla. He anticipated my every move. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't...save them." The last words were an anguished whisper that he doubts she could hear.

Her attention is back on Lian Yu. The explosions have finally, mercifully stopped but something causes her eyes to fill with horror. "Oliver, it's sinking!"

He turns around. She is right, the island is sinking and sinking fast. They weren't even going to be left with anything to say goodbye to. In two hours, Lian Yu is gone and the real purgatory begins.


	2. Chapter 2

_17 days later,  
A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters, Star City._

Going through the motions of running a government superagency had helped keep Lyla Michaels sane in the two weeks since her husband had been murdered but the fact the agency couldn't find Oliver Queen was starting to damage that sanity. She knew he'd taken his son to Samantha's parents in Central City but no one had seen him since. He went to ground when in pain, she knew that, but A.R.G.U.S. had always been able to find him. She'd initially been worried that he was trying to singlehandedly excavate the sunken remains of Lian Yu to find their lost loved ones but the excavation team she'd sent had seen no sign of him. More than once, she'd reached for her phone to ask for Felicity Smoak's help, only to remember that Felicity was gone. She suddenly noticed a reflection in the screen she'd been blankly staring at and turned around. God, he looked even worse than she'd been expecting. "Oliver?"

"I have no right to ask you for anything after what I've done to your family but I need you to promise me something..." 

"Oliver, what happened on that island was not your fault," she forcefully interrupted. She takes a deep breath to steel herself for whatever, sure to be crazy, thing answered her next question. "What do you need?"

"When I cross the point of no return, and I will...Without Thea, John and especially..." He briefly closes his eyes and then continues as if a third name had been said into the silence, "to act as my moral compass, I will, I need you to toss me in a cell and never look back."

She lays a hand on his arm, "Okay, if I see you crossing a line, then I'll arrest you. But Oliver, have you contacted anyone about what happened? Their families need to know."

"I called Curtis' ex-husband Paul and child services so René's daughter can be told but I know nothing about Dinah's family and I can't find the Legends to tell Sara."

She closes her eyes in sympathy as she notices that he has again left a name off of his list but it has to be said, "What about Felicity's mom?"  


At the sound of her name, he winces as if he's been sucker punched, "I can't... The second I say those words out loud, _that_ is when I break. And I'm terrified for the world when I do."


	3. Chapter 3

Lyla watches the man who had been like a brother to John as he paces her office in agitated grief, "Oliver, you're devastated, believe me, I understand that but you're not evil. I don't understand why you-"

"I'm sure that at some point in the years you've known me, you've read my file," Oliver interrupts her. At her reluctant nod, he continues, "Then you know how far revenge has driven me in the past. And that was for a single child that I'd known less than a year. This was my entire world. My best friend, my baby sister...the love of my life!"

"But Oliver, Adrian Chase is dead. There is no one to get revenge on," Lyla points out quietly.

"I know, that's why the need for revenge that has been clawing at mind for more than two weeks terrifies me so much. When Merlyn decided to level the Glades, he believed the man who'd murdered his wife was already dead but that didn't stop him from seeking revenge. And for the first time, I understand him." He stops and shakes his head as if to clear it, "But that's not the only reason I haven't called Donna. I've picked up my phone to do it at least twice a day but...I always end up calling Fe- _her_ instead. I listen to her message and then I tell her all the things I wish I'd said on that island when she kissed me...just in case."

Lyla envelopes the now sobbing Oliver in a tight hug as she whispers, "Oliver, she knew all of those things."

"Did she? I hadn't said them in more than a year. I never stopped believing, even when we were both dating other people, that I'd get a chance to say them again. And we were _finally_ so close that I could taste it but in the space of a single gunshot, it was gone. _She_ was gone. Why didn't I say it?"

Lyla sighs as leads him over to the chairs by her desk and takes a seat, leaving him to fall into the other one, "The what might have beens will drive us insane if we let them. Johnny and I spent much of our final week together fighting and years divorced. I'd change that if I could but I can't. We just have to believe they knew and that we did the best we could." She glances down at her phone as it beeps, "Donna Smoak walked into the SCPD five minutes ago and reported her daughter missing. She's also demanding to see the mayor. If you can't tell her, I will but someone has to, Oliver."

Oliver shakes his head as he gets to his feet and heads towards the door, "No, she deserves to hear it from me. But thank you for everything you've said tonight."

_A.R.G.U.S. supply ship, somewhere in the North China Sea_  


Felicity is staring at the tablet Oliver had handed her back on Lian Yu with tears streaming down her face when Thea Queen enters the small cabin they're sharing. She rushes forward to hug the woman she still hopes will become her sister-in-law, "Felicity, what's wrong? I'm sure Ollie's fine." 

Felicity wipes her eyes as she responds, "It's not that, I know he's fine. I still can't get a message out on this stupid thing but I was able to hack into my voice mail. Oliver _is_ fine but Thea, Lian Yu sank...he believes we're gone and that he doesn't even have bodies to say goodbye to. The messages he left me...he's... _breaking_. If we don't reach him soon..."

"Can I listen to them?" Thea asks, gesturing towards the tablet.

"The first few...as they go on, I don't think he'd want you to hear them. I'm not sure he'd actually want _me_ to hear them but..." Felicity answers as she presses play and Oliver's disembodied voice fills the room.

_" I meant to call your mom but I needed to hear your voice. I love you and I'm sorry. I keep thinking if I could hold you again...even just your...body then maybe I could breathe but that damn island took you with it to the bottom of the sea. I don't know how to live without you, John and Thea. Wherever you are...wait for me. I'll be there as soon as I can."_

As Felicity stops the recordings to give them a second to compose themselves, Thea dabs at her eyes, "Oh my God, they get _worse?_ " At Felicity's teary nod, Thea shakes her head, "I don't think I want to hear any more. But you're right, we need to reach him, now!"

When John Diggle enters the room a few minutes later, they're both still crying, "Thea, you were supposed to get Felicity and come back. Curtis and René are driving me crazy and Dinah and Lance- What the hell? Are you two okay?"


	4. Chapter 4

As Oliver enters the SCPD and sees Donna staring blankly ahead, he flashes back to that horrible December night almost a year and a half ago and like that night, the need to run almost overwhelms him but this time he continues towards her instead. "Donna..."

She shoots to her feet at the sound of his voice, "Oliver, where is my baby?"

He closes his eyes as he tries to find the words that will break her heart but a uniformed officer interrupts before he can, "Mr. Mayor, the captain's office is available if you would like some privacy."

"That would probably be best, thank you. Donna, if you would come with me?" As soon as they settle in the office he takes her hands, "I don't even know how to begin to explain-"

"Just say it. Say what I've known since the second I looked into your eyes out there...My baby's gone, isn't she?" Donna interrupts in a broken whisper.

"Yes...I'm so sorry."

"Oliver, what happened? Was it because she was working with the Green Arrow? I knew I should have stopped her..."

"In my experience, stopping her from doing anything was easier said than done and it wouldn't have changed anything. She was taken because the Green Arrow was in love with her and nothing in this world could have changed that." He stops to take a deep breath before continuing, "Donna, _I_ am the Green Arrow. Years ago, as the Arrow, I killed a man and his son wanted revenge. He kidnapped everyone I loved and took them to the island I was marooned on, Lian Yu. I'd rescued everyone but William and thought I had an escape plan but he'd rigged the entire island with explosives connected to his heartbeat and disabled the plane. When I was distracted by rescuing my son, he shot himself in the head, triggering the explosives and ultimately sinking the island. I'm sorry, I failed her."

She squeezes his hand, "Oliver, killing his father is on you but nothing he did in revenge is. _He_ killed my daughter, you tried to save her. This wasn't your fault."

"I never realized how alike you two could sound and I'm not sure you're right but thank you. There's something else you should know, Quentin Lance was also on the island. Again, I'm sorry."

Before Donna can respond, Lyla suddenly runs in, looking stunned...and hopeful, "Oliver, the supply ship that was on the eastern shore just made contact with the Hong Kong office, eight people jumped aboard seconds before the island blew."

Oliver shakes his head, "The ship sank..."

"We assumed it did because it was gone and never radioed in but it was just knocked off course and it's radio broken. Communication is still incredibly spotty but we know the radio was repaired by two of the survivors." She stops at smiles at them, "Including a blonde woman with glasses who uses the word 'frak' a lot."


	5. Chapter 5

The flight to Hong Kong to meet the supply ship when it docks is easily the longest of Oliver's life and that is saying something. He wants to be optimistic like Lyla and Donna clearly are but he is terrified that this is the last cruel trick set up by Adrian Chase to destroy him. The fact the ship had never made contact again only adds to his worries. He notices Lyla watching him and sighs, "I know you think I should just believe in this miracle and I want to. God, you have no idea how much I want to but giving me this hope and then ripping it away is _exactly_ Chase's MO. And...miracles have kind of been in short supply in my life."

"Chase is _dead,_ what could he possibly get out of that?"

"Lyla, his ultimate act of revenge was to shoot himself in the head to destroy everything I loved, I don't think we can apply reason here!" Oliver hisses.

"Okay, but who would have known to tell us the blonde uses 'frak' a lot?"

Oliver laughs a little at that, "Literally _anyone_ who'd spent more than two minutes in her presence when she was annoyed. I can't let myself believe this until I'm standing on that dock, touching them because I can't handle losing them again. I had to do that with my parents a few months ago and I simply don't have it in me to go through it again. Please, just let me worry." 

"Fine, we land in ten minutes anyway."

As the ships docks an hour later, Oliver doesn't immediately see anyone he knows but then he sees Dig and Lance running to Lyla and Donna and a familiar voice yells, "Ollie!"

He catches her as she runs towards him, "Speedy, I thought I'd lost you. I love you."

"I love you, too." Thea hugs her brother tightly for a moment before noticing that he's suddenly staring with rapt attention at something, or rather someone, behind her. She pushes him away with a watery laugh, "Go, Ollie."

Oliver is never completely sure if he runs to her, she to him or some combination thereof but suddenly she's in his arms. As their lips meet, he finally allows himself to say it, "Felicity."


	6. Chapter 6

The kiss goes on for a while, probably longer than it should in front of an audience that includes both her mother and his little sister but eventually he pulls back enough to whisper, "I love you. Marry me?"

"I love you, too, Oliver but...we said one step at a time, this is all the steps at a time!"

"I know and I also know there's still a _lot_ that we still need to talk about but beyond any of that...I know that I love you and I want you to be my wife. If this too soon for you, I understand but know that this time I will _never_ let you go." He pauses to pull something from his pocket, "You once asked me to keep this for good but I can't do that because it belongs on your finger. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," Felicity whispers. Oliver breathes a sigh of relief as he slides the ring home and seals the promise with a kiss. 


End file.
